The present invention is concerned with a device to detect and signal the moment when a beast, e.g. a cow or a horse, prepares to give birth.
A dropping warning device which detects and signals the start of the passage of a young animal through the vagina of its mother is known. This appliance comprises substantially a support adaptable to the behind of a beast, on which an abutment arranged opposite the vagina of the beast is mounted. This abutment is mounted so as to be displaced by the young animal at the start of its emergence from the vagina in order to interact with a contactor connected to the electrical circuit of an alarm device. This appliance, although enabling the start of the dropping to be detected, nevertheless does not make it possible to know at what moment the beast prepares to give birth and when it loses the waters from its allantoic and amniotic sacs. However, this moment is very important e.g. for certain cows which must be delivered on time, that is very little time before the breaking of the sacs on pain of running the risk of losing the beast and its young. Detecting the moment of the breaking of the sacs is likewise very important for certain animal species, e.g. cows with a foal-like rump which cannot calve or in the case where the calf does not present itself. To detect the breaking of the water sacs, there is known an appliance having a probe of the urinary type intended to be introduced between the lips of the vulva of the beast into its vagina so as to collect the waters of the allantoic and amniotic sacs. This probe contains two electrodes which are moistened by the waters upon the breaking of the sacs and there results therefrom between the electrodes a variation of electrical resistance which brings about the release of an alarm. It has been established that this appliance produces untimely alarms due in all probability to variations of the state of humidity or to the presence of mucus rejected by the beast. On the other hand, although this appliance is intended to detect the breaking of the water sacs, it does not enable the actual start of the dropping to be detected subsequently.